Have you ever had a conversation with someone about tech and realize that your conversation would sound like gobbledygook not so long ago?
This is what I’m thinking about as I write about using Twitter to build a PLN. I remember when I first heard about Twitter—when that journalist (?) in Egypt let people know that he was imprisoned using Twitter. I got all excited about this new medium, but once I signed up, I was initially unimpressed. As an expat, I used social media primarily to keep in touch with family and friends all over the world, and to share my adventures and photos and for that, Facebook was the better option. I signed up for Twitter anyway and tweeted from time to time.
Somewhere along the way, though, I noticed some hashtags pop up in my network, like #edchat and #engchat. I started following these and found an amazing network of educators posting really interesting and useful stuff. I realized that Twitter would be a cool way to build something of a professional learning network, or PLN.
I won’t go into detail about that because I’m still in the dabbling stage myself, but there are plenty of sites and that give teachers ideas for how to build a PLN, like this one, and this one.
Why build a PLN? For me, it helps fill a couple of needs, such as PD and collaboration with other HS English teachers, both lacking in my very small school where I am the entire HS English department. I love hearing ideas from teachers all over the world for how to improve my instruction.
As I said, I’m still dabbling. I have some work to do to really build my PLN beyond just some Twitter hashtagging, but I’m loving the potential.
This is what I’m thinking about as I write about using Twitter to build a PLN. I remember when I first heard about Twitter—when that journalist (?) in Egypt let people know that he was imprisoned using Twitter. I got all excited about this new medium, but once I signed up, I was initially unimpressed. As an expat, I used social media primarily to keep in touch with family and friends all over the world, and to share my adventures and photos and for that, Facebook was the better option. I signed up for Twitter anyway and tweeted from time to time.
Somewhere along the way, though, I noticed some hashtags pop up in my network, like #edchat and #engchat. I started following these and found an amazing network of educators posting really interesting and useful stuff. I realized that Twitter would be a cool way to build something of a professional learning network, or PLN.
I won’t go into detail about that because I’m still in the dabbling stage myself, but there are plenty of sites and that give teachers ideas for how to build a PLN, like this one, and this one.
Why build a PLN? For me, it helps fill a couple of needs, such as PD and collaboration with other HS English teachers, both lacking in my very small school where I am the entire HS English department. I love hearing ideas from teachers all over the world for how to improve my instruction.
As I said, I’m still dabbling. I have some work to do to really build my PLN beyond just some Twitter hashtagging, but I’m loving the potential.